Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., July 03, 2008 Sivan 30, 5768 | | Israel Time: 11:51 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Peres Conference Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

A composite image of three 1,700-year-old medallions, two of them bearing Jewish symbols, that have been returned to the heirs of the owners who lost them to the Nazis during World War II. (AP/The Israel Museum) Israel Museum returns Nazi-looted artifacts to Polish owners By The Associated Press Tags: Second World War, coins  The Israel Museum has returned three 1,700-year-old medallions to the Polish noble family that lost them to the Nazis during World War II, the museum announced yesterday. Two of the medallions, made of gold foil inside blown glass, are priceless Jewish artifacts, said James Snyder, director of the museum. Emblazoned with lions of Judah and a seven-branched candelabra, they are among the earliest pieces found outside Israel bearing images linked to the Jewish Temple, he said. All three medallions were part of a collection of thousands of antiques, paintings, tapestries and other artifacts that Countess Isabella Dzialynska amassed in the 1800s and kept at her castle in Goluchow, Poland. Advertisement The Nazis seized the collection in 1941 after invading Poland, then moved them on Hitler's orders to an Austrian castle. They were looted after the Nazi defeat in 1945 and scattered to museums, dealers and private collections all over the world, according to the London-based Commission for Looted Art in Europe, which represents Dzialynska's heirs. The commission approached the Israel Museum four years ago upon discovering the medallions were in its collection and negotiated the restitution agreement. The medallions had turned up in Vienna in the 1960s and were purchased for the Israel Museum. The family spent years scouring Germany and Austria for its lost art after the war, then largely stopped looking, said Count Adam Zamoyski, the countess's great-great-nephew. The search, he said, got under way again in earnest in the 1980s, when awareness of looted art became more widespread and museums became more forthcoming about such pieces in their collections. Museum repurchased two pieces The two medallions bearing the Jewish symbols will remain on display in the museum. The museum repurchased one from the heirs, and a donor purchased the second and gave it to the museum on a long-term loan. "We absolutely decided that because they were of such extraordinary importance to the museum, we were very keen for a way to be found for them to remain there," Zamoyski said, adding he was very pleased with the agreement. None of the sides would divulge the sums paid for the medallions. The medallions were buried in Jewish graves in the catacombs of Rome in the 3rd or 4th century, said Snyder, the museum's director. The images recall the temple in Jerusalem that Roman legions destroyed in the year 70, before carrying its treasures - including a seven-branch candelabra like the one depicted on the medallions - back to Rome. The third medallion, which bears the image of a duck and a fruit basket, is returning to the heirs. Worldwide, experts say, anywhere between 250,000 and 600,000 pieces of art looted by the Nazis were never claimed and remain in the possession of museums, governments and private collectors. In its nine years of work, the Commission for Looted Art in Europe has restored 3,000 pieces to their owners, said Anne Webber, the commission's co-chair. Over the years, the Israel Museum has returned some 20 pieces looted by the Nazis and claimed by heirs, including Camille Pissarro's Boulevard Montmartre: Spring in 2000. The original owners' heirs agreed to leave the painting on display at the museum, accompanied by an explanation of its history. More Jewish World news and features Bookmark to del.icio.us   Terror in the capital A Palestinian rammed his bulldozer into a bus in Jerusalem, killing three. Poetic injustice Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish blends sarcasm and hope in his latest work.

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